


Something

by LouTheStarSpeaker



Category: Motorcity (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:55:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24255463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LouTheStarSpeaker/pseuds/LouTheStarSpeaker
Summary: "He’ll look out at his city, the one he’s been charged with protecting, the one he’s supposed to love, and he’ll look with empty eyes. He sees exactly what it is Kane does."
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Something

**Author's Note:**

> So. I jumped on the Motorcity bandwagon about 8 years too late... But if there's anyone still out there I hope you enjoy!

Sometimes Mike takes walks around the city. He’ll make his way slowly, because speed leads to instinct, and the only reason he’s walking is because his instincts seem to be leading him in all the wrong directions lately. 

He’ll wander around the streets, kicking tin cans and feeling like a coward and a hypocrite for wondering  _ why does he do it? _

Why’d he start it all to begin with? Which part of him decided there’s something here worth saving? 

He’ll search for that something with an almost angry sort of restlessness, scanning the alleyways, hoping to glimpse it in some stranger’s face. But Mike’s never been good at finding answers on his own. 

He’ll look out at his city, the one he’s been charged with protecting, the one he’s supposed to  _ love _ , and he’ll look with empty eyes. He sees exactly what it is Kane does.

Motorcity is grungy and dirty, with litter in the gutters and strays on the streets. The buildings are lopsided and the people are stubborn. He’ll save a whole group of them and all they do is wonder why he couldn’t save their furniture store too.

It’s ridiculous. Where the heck is everybody else? Why does he have to be the one to lead his friends into danger, dangling everyone’s lives on a half-baked plan and a prayer? The city is full of people, but he’s the only one fighting. 

And they have the nerve to complain about a furniture store.

Who’s to say he has to try to save anything? Who’s to say he has to fight Kane at all? Who’s to say he can’t just keep driving and never stop?

But then he’ll see a medic speed by with the sirens blaring, and there’s his something. 

Or a kid will look up at him with these  _ big _ hopeful eyes, and there’s his something. 

Or he’ll remember the times his team comes in laughing, high on adrenaline, dropping off one by one in a heap on the couch. 

And there’s his something, right in front of him, and Mike will remember all over again why he does it. 

It’s because whoever that medic is racing to save deserves for their life to be fought for. And all the kids with big hopeful eyes deserve to have something to put all that trust in. And his team- his  _ family _ \- deserve to drop off to sleep without counting up all the bruises, and not wake up gasping from the nightmares.

So Mike sends a good thought to all the medics, and he smiles at all the kids. He’ll take all the hits and face down all the demons so his friends never have to. 

So yeah, Mike wonders sometimes, and he’ll wonder again. You don’t fight a war and never doubt if your cause is worth all the blood, if it wouldn’t be better to just let things be. He’ll worry through all the different possibilities and wander through all the different streets.

But when he finds himself at home again, he’ll always reach the same conclusion. 

Motorcity is grungy and dirty. People throw litter in the gutters and he’s one of the strays on the streets. The buildings teeter but they’re as stubborn as the people living inside them. 

And there’s something about it. 

A glint under the rust that looks too much like potential to be a mistake. A vibration coursing through the people like electricity, and they’re alive in a way not many are. 

It’s like an engine thrumming under the concrete. 

And Mike recognizes it, because it’s a pulse that matches his own.


End file.
